Ethylene responses in non-climacteric horticultural crops.

Abstract

Abstract Ethylene regulates a number of metabolic routes throughout the crop growing season at different environmental conditions. The most known process dealing with the action of such a hormone turns out to be ripening of climacteric fruits, which as opposed to non-climacteric fruits, reveals that ripening is accompanied by a respiration peak in conjunction with a concomitant outburst of ethylene production. Ethylene has been the target of scientific investigations carried out by researchers linked to fruit and horticulture sciences owing to physiological responsiveness of non-climacteric fruits regarding quality issues, since consumption has been plummeting whereas production costs soar more and more. Molecular techniques have been largely and globally scrutinized in order to provide a better understanding of ripening physiology of fruits and horticultural species. Physiological responses come to being enigmatic and quite complex because variability inherent to different horticultural species, maturation process per se, and cultivar factors impair the possibility of garnering knowledge in light of clear evidence on processes encrusted in ethylene production from non-climacteric fruits.